


One Life After Another

by NanakiBH



Category: El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Reincarnation, True Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-13
Updated: 2015-07-13
Packaged: 2018-04-09 02:22:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4330179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NanakiBH/pseuds/NanakiBH
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It doesn't matter what names they go by now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Life After Another

**Author's Note:**

> Apparently I wrote this in 2011 but never shared it anywhere. It was unfinished, so I just closed it with a few lines and fixed it up. I think I was worried about this not being compliant with canon, or maybe I thought it was too self-indulgent. Knowing more about the novels now, though, I think this sounds fine. It works as a kind of AU. It's just a pleasant little thing to think about.

On the porch, Lucifel stands twirling the handle of his umbrella between his fingers. With every spin, flecks of rain water scatter off its surface and splash the stairs below him. Without any particular interest, he watches the cars pass as people return home from work in the evening. It's about dinnertime. He can smell something nice, which means that Enoch must be at work in the kitchen.

_Enoch?_ No, it was something else this time...

But Enoch is always Enoch to Lucifel, regardless of whatever year he's in. A lifetime or two recently passed where he hadn't bothered announcing himself to him, but he usually finds it too difficult to stay away. That first lifetime was a fun one. He's replayed it a few times, but he knows that he can only do that so many times before Someone will figure it out and stop him before he can do it again. He trusts his luck, but he doesn't want to push it so far that he'll lose the one thing he truly finds entertaining.

This Enoch is as gentle-hearted as he was in every previous life. There have been some times where he completely rejected him; locked himself away and barred his doors, committed suicide to escape him, tried to have him exorcised... For a solid century, it seemed as if Enoch would never accept him. The people of the twenty-first century seem more forgiving, though. In fact, if he tells his name to a stranger, they usually think he's joking.

Fortunately, Enoch believes him in this lifetime.

“Food's almost done, Lucifel. ...What are you looking at?”

Enoch has his head poking out from the kitchen, and he leans out a little farther to try to find out what Lucifel is up to. Lucifel inclines his head to look at him over his shoulder through the screen door.

“Just watching the traffic. The rain's nice, too. It feels good when it's so warm out.”

Enoch has an apron on, which is obscenely cute for some reason. He's so big, it should look ridiculous. But it's sort of like putting a pink bow on a lion. It's cute. This Enoch doesn't know a thing about fighting. He's the lovely, obedient, church-going type. Lucifel really expected him to flee as soon as he heard his name, but he'd looked at him so earnestly and said,

_“You don't seem like a bad guy at all!”_

So gullible. It's astounding.

But Lucifel isn't going to hurt him, anyway. His presence alone doesn't have the power to corrupt. Enoch still has that innocent expression, and his food still tastes like the sweetest homemade food he's ever had each morning. He still goes to church, and Lucifel sits next to him even though he makes sure that no one else can see him.

_“You're Noah's great-grandfather, you know,”_ he told him one time when they were sitting through a reading from the Old Testament.

Under his breath, Enoch had told him that he could believe that if it were in another time, when he felt differently. Without having to ask, Lucifel knew what Enoch had been trying to say.

If they had encountered each other in that lifetime, the Good Book would've had a very different cast.

Sometimes Enoch remembers himself completely. Sometimes he doesn't at all. Lucifel doesn't know which way he prefers it. Maybe it's all the same.

Enoch steps farther into the living room and gives him an odd smile. “If other people can't see you, aren't they just going to see an umbrella floating in midair?”

The thought hadn't even crossed his mind. Fortunately, he's nice and visible at the moment, which means he won't be scaring the neighbors. Unfortunately, however, they're going to start questioning who Enoch's mysterious new friend is. He doesn't like introducing himself. He has no interest in all these other transitory lives.

He waves a hand at him and closes his umbrella with the other. “No worries, they could see me right now. To them, I look like your average, everyday, handsome stranger.”

“You're so modest,” Enoch jokes, laughing. “Now get in here before you get wet.”

His chest warms with a human sort of feeling as he floats over the threshold, as he wraps his arms firmly around Enoch's shoulders, and presses his face to his neck. Enoch lets out a surprised laugh and brings up his arms to embrace him, holding on to him to keep his balance. He asks him what's gotten into him so suddenly, but Lucifel silently acknowledges that this feeling isn't anything new. It's been there for a couple thousand years, and it will likely be there for thousands more.

Just for him.

Just for this one life in all of its lifetimes; Enoch.


End file.
